A Fox Hunt
by dHemlan
Summary: On October 10, a celebration is held each year to celebrate the defeat of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. This year, the fifth year since the attack, there is a new way to celebrate: the Fox Hunt.
1. Chapter 1

Konoha. The village hidden in the leaves. A large, prosperous village founded on principles of teamwork and peace. Ironic really, when the village was built to support man large clans of shinobi. Even so, throughout the elemental countries, Konoha is known as being very trusting, and even a little benign. Even with the position of the most powerful shinobi village, they prefer peaceful outcomes achieved through negotiations. Walking through the streets of the village, you get much the same impression. Quiet, soft-spoken, clean. Everybody knows their neighbor, and would help them without a second thought, even if done a bit grudgingly. On festivals, the village transforms. Gone are the tranquil silence, and the soft voices of those in the market. The streets are filled with colors and sounds and vendors of various sweets and trinkets. There is plenty of music and displays of fireworks, even a few shinobi utilizing their elemental techniques to stun and amaze crowds of children. The village's inherent benevolence is easily seen. Lost children are bought a treat and taken to find their parents. A stranger looking sad or downtrodden on such a happy day is quickly taken drinking by friends and strangers alike.

On this day, there is one such festival being celebrated, one of remembrance as much as celebration. On this day, the alcohol runs a little more freely, and the mood stays a little more somber. The festival games grow a little more violent, and visits to shrines and graves more common. The festivities start early in the morning, and continue on till well after dark. This year, however, the festival has something new. An event, set to start at sunset, is to be the culmination of the festival, with a party afterwards for the adults involved in it. The event happens to be a contest, a very large one, with the only participants being the heads of clans. Surprisingly, the contestants are being very friendly, something almost never seen due to the feuds and animosity most clans have for one another. The prize of the contest reflects this, with the victor only receiving honor and prestige for themselves and their clan. They also win the right to light the celebratory bonfire, which has been constructed in the middle of a large training field. Participating in this event, which was going to be recorded for posterity, were the clans Uchiha, Hyuuga, Inuzuka, Mitarashi, Yuuhi, Haruno, Yamanaka, Kurama, Uzuki, and even the Sarutobi, represented by the clan head's son Asuma.

Together, they would be playing a game with the guest of honor, a sort of Hide-and-Seek. Whichever clan found and retrieved the target had to make it to the training field with the bonfire to win. Once there, a signal flare would be sent up to notify the contestants that didn't know, that the contest was over, and the final party of the day would begin. There was even going to be an impromptu victory ceremony, with the victor saying a few words before lighting the bonfire. They would then party late into the night, eating and drinking to their hearts content. The highlight of the party would, in fact, be a roast on the giant bonfire, with meat being served only to the victor. On this day, a day in early October, the village was preparing for the final event, an event they have named 'The Fox Hunt'.

* * *

The Village Hidden in the Leaves woke early, as is expected of a village of ninja, and they woke to the smell of burning flesh. Veterans of previous large scale battles immediately noticed, and just as quickly notified the Hokage. Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, had just awoken from his bed of papers in need of signatures, when he heard that there had been many complaints and notices about a specific smell on the west side of the village, the smell being one of burnt flesh. This got him to stand up faster than a direct I.V. of caffeine. He quickly pulled out his Crystal Orb of Pervers…Crystal Orb to search for Naruto. He was worried, because it was tonight that mobs and riots traditionally broke out to lynch the poor boy. He had even stayed at the office all night waiting for the report that Naruto had once again been hospitalized due to extensive injuries. As he focused on Naruto's chakra signature, which he noticed was frighteningly small, an image appeared in the orb. All of a sudden, he stood up and signaled for his ANBU guards to follow him. The scene they arrived on was disgusting, if not downright disturbing. The many villagers who took great pleasure in tormenting a small, orphaned child lay all across the clearing of training ground 7, passed out in temporary, alcohol induced comas. They lay there, many in the middle of attempting acts of debauchery, and many succeeding. There were men with their hands in the pants of women, women with their hands in the pants of men, and many were missing articles clothing, allowing what assets they possessed to be showcased to the world. The passed-out bodies grew seemed to multiply as they reached what appeared to be a buffet table. However, what appeared to have been served at this 'party' caused even some of the seasoned and battle-hardened ANBU operatives to forcibly eject the contents of their stomachs. What appeared to be served, was none other than Naruto, who appeared to have been roasted like a suckling pig. The part that really disturbed them was that even with all of his extremities removed, save his head, he was still alive, if just barely, as was discernable by the minute shifting of his chest in a regular pattern, and a, albeit slow, flow of blood from the stumps and the spots that appeared to have chunks bitten out of him. At this revelation, the Hokage signaled one of the ANBU, one wearing a dog mask. "Inu, head to the hospital and tell them to prepare for our arrival." After a moment of consideration, he continued, "and tell them that if they refuse to help in his healing, or even think of sabotaging it, they will find themselves in a similar condition before the day is out.", he finished with an air of impending doom for any who should cross him. 'Hell, I hate the damn demon brat, but there is no way in HELL that I'm going do anything for a while after this. As it stands right now, the Hokage would probably sentence the next person who even looks at that piece of shit wrong would be sentenced to months of torture before death, and that's only if he doesn't outright kill them in the first place.', went the thoughts of the dog-masked ninja. And with a sharp nod, he was off. "The rest of you, take everyone here to holding cells till they wake up. At that point they will be interrogated and judged by me. The ones surrounding the table are to have Ibiki's undivided attention until every ounce of information is squeezed from them. Also, tell him that he has no restrictions on his methods for this assignment." This declaration from the Hokage shocked some of the newer ANBU members, for they could see that some of the drunks were, in fact, clan heads. None the less, the hurriedly leapt to their tasks, and soon the clearing was empty, save the elderly village leader and the half-eaten boy. Picking up the unfortunate child, along with his limbs, he disappeared in a swirl of leaves and fire.

The staff of the hospital was panicking. They had all been informed of their Hokage's ultimatum, and it scared them to the bone. Especially since a few of them had actually help plan the Fox Hunt, so they had a very good idea of what kind of damage he would have. In an instant, a vortex of flaming leaves announced the arrival of the cause of their panic. In his arms lay their next patient, one that would receive the best of care during his stay. This time. As the medical staff continued to panic, in a much more subdued manner, the Hokage merely walked into an open operating room. Dr. Nanasawa, a tall dark-haired man, and one of the few members of the hospital staff that didn't despise the boy on sight, quickly followed him, accompanied by a carefully selected team of assistants and nurses, who were all at least neutral to the boy. Inside the O.R., the good doctor finally got a good look at the state the boy was in, along with the three others with him. Needless to say, they were shocked into silence. Watching them as he unsealed Naruto's limbs from a scroll, he felt that they might need some prompting to get them out of their silence. "What the hell are you waiting for!" he demanded in a voice that would have gotten the Shinigami to pause, if only for a second. "Start helping him NOW. Before he dies from blood-loss or shock." And with that, the medical team began working with a speed and fervor that would have made a certain spandex wearing, bushy eye browed taijutsu master jealous. Seeing this, the aged shinobi stepped back, and prayed to every holy deity that he knew of to let this terribly wronged child pull through this, and survive.

* * *

**Time Skip – One Week**

It had been a full week since the gruesome event the villagers, and many of his ninja, were calling a celebration. Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed, and if you were to look at him now, you could tell that he was feeling his age, especially now. Not only was he losing the fight against the waves of paperwork being carted into his office, at least a fifth of it concerned either Naruto directly, or the despicable act that occurred the previous week. There were dozens of requests for the execution of 'the demon child', on the grounds that no ordinary human could have survived such an act, and even a form for the induction of said boy into a program designed to create human weapons, ROOT. Mixed into this mess were complaints from clans on the treatment of the heads of their families, wanting them released with all charges dropped. As he vigorously utilized a large, red, 'Denied' stamp on those despicable sheets of paper, he saw a paper fly off of a particularly tall stack of forms. This in itself was not an unusual occurrence, but it was what the paper had printed at the top of it that caught his attention. 'Request for Disciplinary Actions'. That was something that needed to be dealt with, and soon, before the council had the perpetrators of that atrocity released with all charges dropped. *sigh* He would think of their punishment later, for he had been informed that Naruto had woken out of his medical coma earlier, and he wanted to visit the boy. He was, however, worried about Naruto. Something like this, never mind the fact that this was, hopefully, a completely unique event, would change anyone. He was, he realized, slightly scared of how the abused child would respond to this latest act of discrimination and assault. He also realized that it would probably be a good idea to tell him of his parents, and the Kyuubi, soon, regardless of his mindset, since the reasons for keeping those secrets appeared to have become moot. Seeing his door open, and the tip of a metal cart, he decided that a short break was in order and, through an act of speed and agility disproportionate to his age, leapt through a window from his chair.

At the hospital, Dr. Nanasawa was standing outside of Naruto's room, looking at the results of a few medical tests, his face set in an appearance of surprise. The sudden swirling mass of deep red flames and leaves, which quickly faded out in favor of the form of an old man, dressed in red and white robes, came with little surprise to the doctor, as he had been expecting the Hokage to show up sometime during the day. "How is he?" came the blunt question.

"You'd be surprised. His ability to heal himself, and even regenerate flesh, is nothing short of amazing. There were pieces of skin and muscle that, in anyone else, would have at least left discoloration and scarring, and he has none of that." The slightly excited response continued, "one of the more surprising wounds we found was the removal of a *ahem* specific organ, which would have destroyed his ability to grow and mature beyond a certain point, and two days ago, we found it fully regenerated." Seeing the shocked look apparent on his leaders face, he continued, "I don't know why they did it, or what they did with it, but the fact that it has grown back, in full, warranted a few tests." At this, the Hokage's face dropped to one of suspicion. Quickly, in an effort to appease the man in front of him, who was releasing a not insignificant amount of K.I., he continued shakily, "I-It was nothing more than a few blood tests and examinations of the wounds that were severe enough to take several days to recover from." At this, the killing intent flowing off of the village's shinobi leader dropped, as if it was never there. With a small nod, the still suspicious Hokage signaled for him to continue. "O-One of the tests I had run was one for bloodlines, and I just got the report back." It was at this point that the doctor handed over the paper that had surprised him earlier with its contents. The Hokage looked as shocked as the doctor had before he arrived.

"Does this say what I think its saying?" the shocked, and slightly disbelieving, Hokage asked. "If you think it says that he has a Bloodline Limit, then you'd be right" was the doctor's deadpanned response. The Hokage, after a moment of contemplation, burst out into maniacal laughter. Dr. Nanasawa just stands there for a moment before asking what was so damn funny. Standing up, the Hokage takes a breath before answering. "The fact that Naruto has a Bloodline Limit allowing such extensive regeneration is nothing short of icing on icing on the cake that is going to be presented to the council tomorrow." Seeing the confused look on the good doctor's face, he continued. "I'm going to revoke the secrecy law, and reveal Naruto's parentage." At this the doctor suddenly realized why he was laughing so hard, but he was worried. "Are you sure that is a good idea? I mean that law was created to try and protect him, and we didn't let the names of his parents get to prevent any attacks from Iwa or Kumo." The Hokage just looks at him. He realizes just exactly how stupid he sounded just then. "Never mind, but…" he looks at the Hokage, almost pleading with him, "can I watch you tell the bastards on the council?" his look of pleading turned into an evil smile, just imagining some of the council members having strokes and seizures by the sudden revelation. "Ha-ha, of course, just be at the council chambers at 9 in the morning." The Hokage was wearing a smile very similar to the doctor's own. Then the moment passed, and the smiles faded. "Anyway, is Naruto awake? I have some things I need to talk to him about." The doctor looked nervous for a moment, before saying, "Before you go in there, there is one last thing I wanted to let you know." The Hokage, feeling a little impatient at this point, quickly asked what it was. "Well, uhh, you see, at some point during the mutilation, his eyes had been gouged out." This statement had the old man confused; didn't Naruto have a truly insane regenerative capacity? Seeing the confusion evident on the elderly leader's face, he continued, "Well, it uhh… appears that at some point after that, something was done to the eyes to continuously draw charka through them." Still not getting what the doctor was saying, he motioned for him to continue. "The thing is, his eyes haven't grown back." At this, the Hokage was floored. No eyes. He would be heavily crippled for the rest of his life. But, not one to be held down for long, he asked, "well, if it doesn't want to grow back, why not a transplant?" The doctor sighed, "we tried that, and it seems that the chakra being pulled through the eye sockets not only forces the rejection of the eye, but also destroys the eye itself." This had the effect of sending the already downtrodden Hokage further down. "But…" came a nervous, stuttered word. "We have a theory on how to replace the eyes." Almost instantly, the Hokage's eyes hardened to a furious gaze. "And what is wrong with this idea of yours that you have not already done so?" the question was asked with such fury in his voice that, if the doctor hadn't known the cause of it, he probably would of fainted by now. "W-Well, ahh, y-you see, we think that an eye that has been conditioned to accept large and constant quantities of chakra on a regular basis could withstand the chakra in the sockets long enough for the boy's healing ability to connect it enough to recognize it as benign, or to at least redirect the chakra." As he stuttered his explanation, he could see the look on the Hokage's face, which clearly said 'and why haven't you tried this already?' "T-The thing i-is, the amount of chakra being pulled out means that a regular shinobi's eyes would still be overloaded. W-We t-think that the only type of eye that the boy would be able to accept at this point would be one with a doujutsu," He finished nervously. Hearing this, the furious, battle-hardened, Hokage seemed to deflate into a tired old man. "I apologize. I should have realized that had it been in your power to restore Naruto's sight, you would've" said the tired, old man apologetically.

* * *

*sigh* as the Hokage sighed once more, he wished his sensei was here. It was late at night and he was still doing paperwork. After finishing his conversation with Dr. Nanasawa, he had gone into Naruto's room to talk to him about certain things. Things like the Kyuubi, and his parents. The latter of the two really hurt the boy though, because not only was it his father who had sentenced him to this hell on earth, his ojiji, his 'grandfather', had lied straight to his face when he had asked who his parents were previously. At the end, the child was silent. After a few minutes of silence, he told Naruto that he didn't expect him to forgive him or even understand why he and Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage, and Naruto's father had done the things that they did. And then he left, leaving the boy to think and rebuild his suddenly shattered world. Right now though, he was confused, tired, and frustrated by so many things, he couldn't list them all. Sitting prominently at the top of the list, however, was the council. Especially two clan heads in particular. Fugaku Uchiha and Hiashi Hyuuga. Both were the head of extremely powerful clans, mainly because of each clan's doujutsu. Because of the clans special eyes, the council would almost unanimously chose to grease themselves up and bend over for their every whim. He had recently gotten the interrogation reports from Ibiki, along with a thank you card signed by everyone in the Torture and Interrogation Division of the ANBU. That last thing got the downtrodden village leader to smile, if only a small one. The smile soon disappeared from his face, as he began to read through the files. Some of the things he had found out were downright disturbing. Apparently, somebody had either heard of or created a rumor regarding the genitals of demons. Supposedly, if a woman ate even a small piece of the demon's junk, they would become more beautiful, and more powerful. Because of this, many of the clan head's wives removed, as a group, Naruto's *ahem* utilities. It was then partitioned, distributed, and consumed. After that, some apparently had the smart idea to coerce their daughters to partake in the gruesome 'miracle medicine', as quoted by the current head of the Mitarashi clan, Senkouru Mitarashi. This was done when she was persuading her daughter to eat a piece of the mutilated boy's giggle stick, also saying that it might even be able to remove the curse mark that Orochimaru had left on her. After hearing this, there was no more hesitation, and it was also the last of the rumored 'super drug' for women. Disturbingly enough, it appears that all the consumption of Naruto's flesh was done by these women, who had apparently become slightly deranged after their first taste of his flesh. On one hand however, it could be said that it was fortunate that only four of the clans had daughters who were old enough to go and participate, and then have a piece of five-year-old sausage crammed down their throats. This was, needless to say, all going to be classified and burned. He did not need anyone else going after Naruto with the intent to EAT the poor boy. He may end up having to deal with a lot of shit in his life, but having to worry about being eaten by the women in the village was a worry he was going to do his damndest to protect him from.

After reading through the files, and then cross-referencing them with older reports of attacks on Naruto, and reports of the 'Demon' attacking innocent civilians, deciding that those who were repeat abusers would find the most severe punishment he could get away with, which, unfortunately, wasn't much. Banishment, after all, can easily be cushioned by the council so that it is only temporary, or some other such nonsense. What he wouldn't give to at least give the villagers a fraction of what they had given Naruto… This thought was quickly smothered by a memory of a conversation he and his sensei had on laws, and the appropriate punishments for breaking them. They had just come to the end of an argument, where he had proposed that if the crime was a against a person or organization, then a reparation of equivalent value should be the appropriate punishment.

**Flash Back**

"_Well, in theory, your idea works. However, what if the property destroyed is… oh… maybe an old family heirloom, with little monetary value, hmm?" asked Tobirama Senju, the Nidaime Hokage, in response to his young students idea. "Or what if it is not even a material object that has been damaged. Say that a man working in a field, harvesting grain, suddenly gets his arm chopped off? Do you just say it was an accident, and tell him to live with it? Or do you follow your idea, and chop the offender's arm off as well?" he continues, seeing his protégé bow his head in thought. "There is a saying, in fact, that sums this argument up nicely. 'An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind'. Think about it, and if you come up with a solution for it, you can bounce it off me to make sure it works" he finished with a smile. Hiruzen had much to think about now, and, being observant, his sensei wasn't going to push for an answer or conversation, falling into a sort of comfortable silence._

**End Flashback**

'Huh, an eye for an eye, too bad it couldn't work' thought the reminiscing Hokage. After another moment of thought, and a hurried rechecking of the files, the Hokage found himself cackling evilly. 'There's no reason why it shouldn't work' he found himself thinking. He quickly grabbed an empty scroll from a pile and scribed a quick note to Dr. Nanasawa, telling him to prepare Naruto for an eye transplant tomorrow, to be scheduled after the end of the council meeting. As he went about writing up the proper documents for what he wanted to happen at the council meeting in the morning, he never realized that he wore an evil grin that would have made Orochimaru jealous. The ANBU guards in the room with him had only been able to gather that this sudden change in his behavior had something to do with the council, and something he was going to do or say. It was about then that his ANBU guards began to pity the poor bastards on the council, 'cause their Hokage wasn't going to waste an ounce of his presence on pity or mercy.

* * *

The next morning, at the council chamber doors, Hiruzen Sarutobi met up with Dr. Nanasawa, who had to ask, "You found a way to give Naruto his sight back?" "In a manner of speaking, yes" was the Hokage's mysterious, and short, response. "How? Did you find a way around the chakra degradation? Or did you find a way to temporarily reroute his chakra? 'cause we tried that with a Hyuuga, but the tenketsu wouldn't close" were only a few of the doctor's questions. With a smile, he turned to the doctor and asked, "Do you remember that theory you told me about yesterday, on why the eyes wouldn't grow back, and why the transplants wouldn't graft?" with a slightly confused nod, he continued, "And you remember what you had suggested as a possible solution?" Again, the nod came, this time with a narrowing of the eyes, as if on the edge of an insane idea. "How soon will you be able to do the surgery?" In an instant, the eyes of the good doctor widened to a previously unknown degree. "Y-You're serious?" The Hokage's eyes hardened slightly, "I wouldn't joke about something like this." They both fell in to silence. After a few minutes, the Hokage grinned and said, "Well, I guess they've stewed enough trying to figure out what I'm going to do." And with that, he pushed open the doors and strode confidently to his seat at the head of the council.

The room itself was shaped some-what like a 'U' with the space filled in. along the curved wall were numerous raised seats, with the civilian council on the left, and the shinobi council on the right. Both were made up of the various clan heads that made up the power base of Konoha. As the Hokage strode to his seat, which was at the middle of the curve, and rose above the rest of the seats, the rest of the council looked on in a mixture of fear, rage, confusion, and apprehension. As he sat down on the throne-like chair reserved for the Hokage, he looked at each and every one of the council members. And smiled. And he kept smiling throughout the two-and-a-half hour snore fest of a council meeting, with issues being raised and debated that had no reason for being spoken of during a council meeting. The council was an advisory body created to help manage the business aspects of the village during war. However, when the war ended, the members of the council wanted to keep the power they had found, and passed several laws at the end of the war to ensure their ability to retain this newfound power. However, even if the council has become corrupt, greedy, and power hungry, there was no excuse for the color of the flowers in the main square of the village to even have an issue, much less be raised no less than 5 times and voted on three times each and every time it was raised. But at the end of the snooze fest, the council members realized that not only had the Hokage not said a word throughout the entire meeting, he was still smiling that smug 'I know something you don't, and I'm going to enjoy watching you all stroke and seize when you find out' smile of his. Before a random member of the civilian council could try to end the meeting, the Hokage stood up. And smiled.

"I have a few matters I would like to address before you adjourn this meeting, councilmember Sousuke." A short, brown-haired man, wearing square glasses, who had stood up in an attempt to close the meeting, sat down. "First thing on _my_ agenda. The law regarding Naruto Uzumaki, and his status as a jinchuuriki, is now null and void." Hearing this, several council members began to snicker, and others began to plot. The Hokage continued, "Second item on my agenda, the heritage of Naruto Uzumaki, and ensuring that he receives his inheritance." At this, the entire council broke out in chaos. There were people who were screaming that he had no parents, and that the 'inheritance' belonged to the council. There were others who were screaming for the death of 'the demon child' for this latest attempt to lull them into a false sense of security so he could kill them all in their sleep. And there were still others who wanted to know who the parents were that they would subject their own child to this. "SILENCE!" the voice of the Hokage boomed throughout the chamber. "I will now reveal his parentage, and the reasons behind hiding it. For the 'demon child' you all do your damndest to kill, is none other than the child of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki." He finishes with a smile. The room was so quiet that they could hear each other breathing. The silence was caused by shock, since no one knew what to say. Some wanted to deny it, but couldn't when they thought about it. Some wanted to kill the 'demon brat' for trying to impersonate a young Minato. And still others were thinking, 'Oh, Shit!". "If anyone wants to deny this claim, I have with me not only a copy of the birth certificate, but also their marriage license." This shocked them even further. Many had been assuming and hoping that he had been born out of wedlock, and as such could be dismissed as merely an orphan with no clout or money to his name, but as it was, not only was he heir to the Namikaze clan, but the Hokage had legal proof of the fact. The council knew good and damn well that they were well and truly fucked.

With a smile that seemed to be growing, the sadistic Hokage dropped the next one. "My third point, after a series of tests conducted during his stay at the hospital over this last week, we have determined that he has a Bloodline Limit." At this, the council felt like they had just finish getting anally reamed, and turned around to see a group of big black men unzipping their pants. The Hokage continued on, not giving them a chance to even ask what the Bloodline Limit was or did. "The last thing on my agenda for this meeting, the punishment of two specific individuals." Even as trashed as the council was, the chance to see someone get it worse than them was too good to pass up. "Enter" the now completely stoic Hokage called. The Chamber doors opened, and being led in to the middle of the room by ANBU agents, were two figures. Only after they had been left in the center of the room, illuminated by floodlights, were they recognized. "You two have been chosen to shoulder the punishment for all those involved in your 'celebration' last week. You have been told your crimes, and the identity of the individual you wronged has been revealed to you. Do you have anything to say in your defense?" the entire speech being spoken with a vicious sneer. Both figures shook their head. "Then you will both be escorted to the Hospital, to each give one eye to be transplanted to Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze." This had the entire council stunned. One brave soul stood, as if to speak up against this action, but was cut off as the Hokage continued, "Additionally, you will both become retainers of the Namikaze clan, and cut ties to your current clan. Your lives are no longer your own, they are the sole property of the Namikaze heir, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze. If he tells you to eat dog food, which is what you'll eat until he says otherwise. If he tells you to take revenge for all the beatings he's had to take over the years, you had better start kicking down doors. If he wants to fuck you in the middle of the village in broad daylight, you're going to go out, strip down, and bend over. From now on, you both will live only at his whim." Some of the possibilities scared the crap out of certain council members.

With a vicious grin on his face, he went further, "You two, specifically, have been chosen to shoulder the entirety of the punishment for several reasons. You were the ones to organize the 'Fox Hunt' to begin with, you were the ones to roast the Namikaze heir alive, you were the ones to start a rumor that ended with several women, yourselves included, becoming cannibalistic, and literally begin eating his flesh. And finally, you were the ones to gouge out his eyes and prevent the boy from being able to regenerate them." As the list went on, the council members looked at the two figures standing in front of the Hokage in growing shock, disgust, and fear. And with a final sadistic laugh, he finished, "And to think, you called _him_ a demon" as the two figures were escorted to the hospital. The Hokage stood once more, and declared the end of the meeting. He laughed mirthlessly when he realized that this was the longest stretch of time that the council had been silent. He swiftly walked out of the Chamber, and headed towards the hospital to check in on Naruto, and to inform him that he would soon be able to see again. He just had to figure out how to break it to him that Mikoto Uchiha and Irihi Hyuuga, the people who have tormented him since he could remember, would now be, more or less, his slaves.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** **Well, the second chapter is up in only three days. I need to let you know that i probably wont be able to keep writing at this rate for very long, so chapters will most likely be coming out weekly, rather than every couple of days. Also, reviews, they are the drug of choice for authors. if you want a chapter to come out sooner, review! Again, I dont own Naruto.**

* * *

The village of Konoha was in shock. Five years ago, the adults of the village, and those who were old enough to understand what was going on, were told of the manner in which their Hokage had defeated the nine-tailed monster. They had been told that the demon that had destroyed homes and lives, the monster that had torn apart their peaceful lives in the village to pieces, had been sealed inside a newborn child. The reactions to this revelation were not what either Hokage, Yondaime or Sandaime, had expected or hoped for. There was rioting in the streets that night. They were demands that the demon needed to be killed once and for all, and that the child was no longer a child, but merely a body for the monstrous being. In the first 24 hours after the revelation of the demon being sealed, instead of being killed or destroyed, there were 57 attempts on the child's life. The attacks ranged from the most devious and powerful poisons and jutsus, to merely dropping the child on its head repeatedly.

The day after it was announced that the demon was sealed, the newly reinstated Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, declared that this information was to become classified, under a double-S class law. This was done in the hope that, by being unable to communicate the unique status of the demon container, he would at least be able to grow up amongst friends. Once more, Hiruzen was proven wrong about his optimistic solution. As the number of assassination attempts continued to rise, parents encouraged their children to beat the child, gang up on him, and steal his meager possessions and food, be it in the orphanage where he 'lived', or in the streets with civilians. And on top of all of this, the ANBU operatives he had to guard him, to prevent such things, merely sat back and watched, occasionally even giving pointers to the attacking children in how to hurt him more. At the age of four, he was kicked out because he 'couldn't get along with the other children, and constantly starts fights.' Because of the council's involvement, Hiruzen couldn't even help him that much, only being able to give him an apartment and a monthly stipend, from which he would have to live. The stipend itself was, surprisingly, only short by a small margin. Then again, when the few stores that would even let the boy into their store would triple charge him for everything, and then add the prices of their own purchases to the price, the stipend didn't stretch very far. He tried to help Naruto, by buying him a couple of weeks worth of food every other week, but when the apartment is vandalized ever week as well, there isn't a lot that could be done, especially since the council was spending all of its time trying to find ways to either make themselves more powerful, or to make the sad and miserable life of Naruto Uzumaki even worse. Amongst the most active and vicious of Naruto's abusers, were two women. Normally, the Hokage could at least ensure that there would be no repeat offenders, through the liberal use of torture and executions. However, these two just happened to be married to the heads of the most powerful clans in the village, therefore they had the connections to be let off with nothing more than a slap on the wrist, and often not even that.

Mikoto Uchiha, wife of the clan head Fugaku Uchiha, and possessor of the sharingan, took great joy in physically abusing and hurting the young jinchuuriki. She would often kidnap him and lock him in a room for the express purpose of taking out all of her frustrations on him, be it the council refusing a pay raise for the Police force, or her husband not sticking it to her for weeks on end. He would usually be found a week later, covered in bruises, blood, cuts, and burns, tied to a chair in a basement of the Uchiha compound. The only reason he would even be searched for would be because the rest of the village wanted their turns to brutalize the boy they all love to hate. Irihi Hyuuga, wife to the Hyuuga clan head, Hiashi, enjoyed making the child squirm in pain. Unlike Mikoto, however, she enjoyed causing mental and emotional pain and distress. The first time Naruto met Irihi, she pretended to be a kind and caring potential mother who wanted to adopt him. She brought him to an apartment in the village she rented for this express purpose, and proceeded to feed him warm food, bath him in warm, clean, water, and put him to sleep in a small, clean bed. Only for her to, in the morning, cast a low level genjutsu on him, causing him to not only see, but want to attack, a group of thugs who were beating his new 'mother'. After he stabbed one of the thugs with a knife, conveniently placed just outside the door to his room, she dispelled the first illusion and cast another. This second illusion caused him to think that he had, in fact, stabbed his 'mother' in the stomach. After watching him break down in tears and convulsions, she dropped a lit exploding tag on the floor and walked out the door, laughing all the way out the building, turning around only to watch the building go up in flames. She didn't stop laughing until late that night, after the flames had been extinguished, and herself arrested and taken to be put in a cell for the night. She was let out in the morning with a 'warning', but she would go out of her way to walk directly in front of the traumatized child when she could, just so she could watch him panic in fear.

Over time, they began to see it as a sort of competition to see who could cause him the most pain. They would go back and forth, torturing him in various ways, all to see who could cause the most. They finally decided to try and permanently traumatize the boy to such an extreme, that everyone in the village would absolutely terrify him. Thus, they planned the Fox Hunt. They spent a full month on setting the stage for the pinnacle of their traumatization contest. They were the ones who had the clan heads sign-up to compete. They were the ones to drive a long stake through his body to roast him over the bonfire. They were the ones to spread the rumors about the consumption of a demons flesh. And they were the ones who, not only removed his eyes, but ate them. When they were brought from their homes to a special room to the side of the council chamber, which allowed them to hear everything that went on in the chamber, they had already been feeling a little apprehensive. However, sitting there in that small room, listening to old decrepit men arguing about meaningless trivialities, they began to relax. And as women are prone to do, they began to gossip. They began to talk about the Fox Hunt, and how they thought it turned out. They talked about whether or not anyone suspected they were the ones to orchestrate it. They even spoke about Anko Mitarashi, who had been introduced to the hospital the day after the 'event', with the cause being the curse seal on her neck flaring, and causing immense pain. They continued their incessant chatter since it had been two hours, and nothing relevant to them had been discussed. That is, of course, until they heard the booming voice of the Hokage.

While they panicked for a bit, they heard his first proclamation, and visibly relaxed, while they began to plot and scheme the demon brat's demise. However, the Hokage's second revelation brought back all their initial apprehension and worry. They weren't worried about him having parents, as if they hadn't interfered by now, they probably weren't ever going to. It was the fact that he had an inheritance that made them worry. During the night of the Kyuubi attack, many clans had been completely annihilated, with some barely scraping by with a few members, such as the Kurama, with only two married couples surviving. If what the Hokage was saying was true, than that 'thing' was an heir to a potentially powerful clan, and might even posses a Kekkai-Genkai. As such, the council would turn on them in a minute, as in this village, names and bloodlines meant much more than any 'petty' grievances like 5 years of hatred. As the Hokage continued, and revealed that Naruto was not only the heir of their village's most powerful and loved ninja, Minato Namikaze, and that he did indeed have a Kekkai-Genkai, they began to realize just how deep a hole they had dug for themselves. The depth was truly staggering. When the call came for them to enter, they nearly shit themselves, finally realizing why they had been called here.

They walked into the council chamber, with thoughts racing a mile a minute, seeing the Hokage's face, and understanding that this would be not only punishment for this event, but for every time they had wronged the child he thought of as a grandson. As he declared their punishment, they could only stare in shock. They had been expecting something harsh and long-lasting, but this was ridiculous! Not only were they going to lose everything they had known, their homes, money, and families, they were also slated to become the legal slaves of a _child!_ Not only that, but the child, the one that they had tortured and traumatized since the day he was kicked out of the orphanage, held their lives in his pudgy little hands. These were their thoughts as they were escorted by ANBU to the hospital.

When they arrived, they were surprised to see that the Hokage was already there waiting for them. "Before we continue, I have a few things you both need to hear", the Hokage spoke quickly. "First, everything you have heard at the council meeting, and will hear here in this room, has been classified as S-class secrets of the Village. Against my better judgment, Naruto has asked me to keep his heritage a secret, more to keep the villagers from tripping over themselves trying to apologize to him, and to make up for past wrongs. Do you both understand this?" the Hokage asked. Sensing their hurried nods, the Hokage turned to the distressed ex-Uchiha, and said, "Mikoto, there are a few things you need to know. One of them is the fact that I have been watching your family." After tactfully ignoring a snort of derision, he continued, "and what I have found out about your family would shock you, especially their plans concerning you." Showing amazing amounts of tact, mostly waiting expectantly for the look of utter disbelief, he continued to ignore the montage of emotions flickering across her face.

"First, your husband is planning to stage a coup, and is currently working on inciting the rest of the clan into a self-righteous fury so that they'll go along with this", watching the predominant emotions of disbelief and fury, the old Kage decided that quickly continuing would in his best interests, "and your husband was planning on using you, via an arranged marriage, to secure an alliance with another clan." Finally, the former Uchiha matriarch's face settled into one showing fear, disgust, and disbelief. After a moment of contemplation, she asked, in a quiet whisper, "Why? Why would he do such a thing?" for the first time in a long while, the aged Hokage looked at her with something other than contempt, disgust, or fury. He said, "The clan's council. They had been pressuring him to remarry for few years now, in order to produce an heir that they approve of." Seeing the question on Mikoto's face, he explained, "Itachi and Sasuke, they are both androgynous, and your _former_ clan sees them as abominations, unfit to live, but they are unable to do anything to either, because they are the children of the clan head." Mikoto's face was stricken with shock and horror, frozen in place by the fact that one of the family's closest secrets was out. And with that, the Hokage turned his icy glare to Irihi.

"Irihi, I have also had the Hyuuga watched, and seen similar seeds of revolt. In fact, your husband and the Hyuuga council are in negotiations, working out an alliance." With a snort of indignation, she thoughtlessly snapped at the dig against her former clan, "Like we need to stoop so low as to ally ourselves with lowly peons like the Uchihas." Giving a vicious grin, "Oh really? Don't you want to know how you and your daughters were going to fit into these negotiations? Hiashi, as of the last meeting, proposed to have you marry Fugaku, and have your daughters given as servants to the head Uchiha family. That is, of course, after branding you with a modified caged bird seal, turning you and your daughters into mindless, obedient servants." Both women looked absolutely horrified at the amount of treachery that both clans were involved in.

"The reason I tell you both this, is to let you know what kind of lives you have to look forward to in the event that you even contemplate harming Naruto in retaliation for your punishment, and to let you know that death is not the worst punishment I have at my disposal" and with that sentiment, the fearsome visage of the elderly Hokage turned to away from them and looked towards the hospital room door. "Through that door is your new future, one in which you have yet to decide on how it will go. It will most assuredly be difficult, and it may never get easier, but if you actually decide to repent, and do it because you actually feel regret or guilt and not because of who his family is, he will no doubt insure that you both will at least be able to live in safety and relative comfort. After all, if you had ever actually looked at his apartment before wrecking it, he took care of all of his possessions with great care."

He turned to them once more, "However, to get to that point, you will have to get past a life that, while short, has been full of almost nothing but hatred and pain." He fixed a particularly heavy gaze on them, and told them, with contempt clear in his voice, "I also want you both to know that I am not doing this for your sakes, but for Naruto's. You both represent some of, if not thee, darkest moments in his short life, and you also represent, to him, many things: women, family, ninja, friends, people on the street, and the possible actions of every one he has yet to meet." Speaking his thoughts on this subject, the Hokage looked older than he had during the council meeting earlier, "If he doesn't work through these issues, and do it soon, he will be crippled for life, becoming paranoid of everyone and thing around him, to a point rarely seen even in retired shinobi who lived through the Third Shinobi War. At that point we will have lost someone with the potential to surpass even his father, the Yellow Flash." as the women processed this last piece of information in shock, the Hokage thought back to when he had realized that Naruto, indeed, held such potential.

It wasn't his ability to train, or endurance, or being able to intuit how something should be done. His potential lay in his ability to _learn_. Almost twelve months before, just after the Kyuubi festival, he had been barely able to communicate at all, knowing only the basics of speech, because, if they could help it, no one ever spoke to him or near him, except to order him to do something. And since he was secluded in his 'room', almost a literal hole in the wall, he had never even known the existence of writing. When he had been found homeless by the Hokage, a full week later, he was able to speak with a fluency and complexity that outdid many of those who taught at the Shinobi Academy. The only reason the Hokage even knew this was because, in an act of childish innocence, the boy had asked this tall, elderly man a question.

_**Flash back**_

_Hiruzen Sarutobi was urgently searching through the poorer districts of Konoha, searching for a person. The person in question was a child, one who was of an age that, as an orphan, should still be in an orphanage. He had been kicked out of the one he had been the previous week, and the ANBU that had been in charge of guarding him had only earlier that day found it prudent to mention that fact. They were now enjoying a month long vacation from duty at ANBU HQ, courtesy of Ibiki Morino, who would, no doubt, ensure that they 'enjoyed' their stay there. Hiruzen was currently making his way through the dinner crowds in the lower class restaurant district, disguised in a henge to avoid attention. He was walking past a small, hole-in-the-wall ramen stand, when from nowhere, a thin, almost skeletal hand, reached out and tugged at his pant leg. He quickly turned, looking to assess any possible threats, and the possible danger to any bystanders, when again, his pant leg was tugged. He looked down, and saw a truly pitiful sight, for a small child had come up to him to get his attention. However, the boy himself was a mess, for he was an unhealthy thin, without even the layer of 'baby fat' most children have until they hit puberty, and his clothes were ragged and dirty with some caked on red-brown stuff. "Jiji_ (old man)_, can you please inte…inform me of what those dark… pictures Are?" asked the thin, wavering voice of the child as he pointed at the sign in front of the ramen stand. At this, Hiruzen was shocked, not only that this child didn't understand how to read the simple lettering on the sign, but that the boy had such an advanced manner of speech at such a young age. Deciding that he could spare a second to answer the boy, he explained, "Well, the first part says 'Ichiraku', that's the name of the owner's family, and-"the little boy interrupted, saying, "Sorry for tacking?... taking up your… time, but I was asking what the pictures were, not what they 'say'. Since pictures don't 'say' anything, do they?" This floored the Hiruzen, for here was a child who had a command of the spoken language many years beyond his own, even if it was a little broken, and he didn't know what writing was, or, apparently, that there were even words to differentiate speech from text. "Boy, where is your family?" the disguised Hokage asked quietly. "Family? What does that word mean?" questioned the small boy, confusion easily visible on his small face. "The people you live with." was the old man's simplified response. "Oh, them. They don't let me live with them anymore" the small child said, just a bit sad. Wanting to find out who would throw out such a young child on his own, made him want to find his 'family' and personally extract any 'information' they had. Figuring the easiest way to find out who the boy's parents were to ask his name, that is what he did. "So, what's your name, little one?" came the calm, unassuming voice of the aged man. The little boy looked up at this, since having such a tone directed at him was a new experience for him, and said, proudly, "I'm the Demon Brat!", and gave what he hoped was a pleasant smile. When the Hokage, who had only been half paying attention to the small child and only took a cursory glance at him to find out who had been tugging at his pants, heard this, his head whipped around so fast you could hear the displaced air, and took another, much closer, look at the small, dirty, child. What he saw disgusted him, for under the layers of dirt and grime, and what he was beginning to think was dried blood due to the funny smell it was giving off, and saw blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and two sets of three horizontal, and parallel hairline scars, one set on each cheek, and thought one thing, 'Naruto'. The dirty child, now identified as Naruto, and the boy Hiruzen was looking for, saw this disgust printed clearly on the old man's face, and began to try and back away, fearing that this nice old man would be like everyone else he had met. Hiruzen saw this, and immediately relaxed his face, restraining his disgust at what the village had done to a little boy, and asked him, "Well, …'Demon', why don't we go in here" after swallowing his, currently growing, disgust and anger and addressing him as he knew himself, pointed at the ramen stand, "and get you something to eat, while I tell you about those black pictures you were asking me about?" 'Demon' paused for a moment, and then looked like this was the happiest moment in his life, past, present, or future, and immediately nodded his head._

_**End Flashback**_

After that, Hiruzen took Naruto, who still thought of himself as 'Demon', into the ramen stand to meet his old friend, Teuchi Ichiraku, and his nine-year old daughter, Ayame. He then fed the boy a bowl of ramen. After explaining that he couldn't eat the steaming noodles with his hands and getting the question of 'what else am I supposed to eat with? My feet?', he was given a large, wide spoon to eat with, and quickly proclaimed ramen to be the greatest food he had ever eaten, above even the crusts of bread he sometimes found. This had brought the previously lighter mood between the two older men down, a lot. After watching the child finish his food, Hiruzen told the boy that he needed to come with him for a while, and after promising to come back and get more ramen at some point, the child cheerfully jumped off of the stool he was on and followed him, not noticing the old man, who had been dressed in a plain brown shirt, with a pair of sturdy, brown, cotton pants, change into a slightly younger looking man, wearing red and white hakama, with a large, round, wide-rimmed, red hat with the kanji for 'Fire' on the front of it. The now revealed Hokage quickly walked with the boy to the Sarutobi compound, where he took Naruto to his study, and began to explain some things to him, such as what his name was, and what letters were. After an hour or so of this impromptu language lesson, in which Hiruzen asked how Naruto learned to speak, he saw the boy about to drop from exhaustion, and asked the boy if he wanted to stay here with him. For Naruto, this was the greatest day ever, better than he could ever imagine, for he hadn't been attacked that day, he had found someone to finally explain those little black squiggles that were all over the place, and he had even gotten a lot of fresh food! And now he had the chance to have a safe place to sleep? Of course he would stay, if he could, and quickly nodded his assent, before falling sideways, asleep, on the couch he had been sitting on.

For the next month, Naruto had rarely left the compound while his 'jiji', as he affectionately called Hiruzen, was there. However, as Hokage, he wasn't there as often as he would've liked, and the other clan members would force the boy out during these times, and he wouldn't get back in till his 'jiji' returned. When Hiruzen was at the compound, however, he would teach Naruto as fast as he could learn which turned out to be quite fast. He quickly learned to read, and then to write. After that he worked on his speech, smoothing it out, and learning manners, even if he didn't often use them. He had even started the boy on learning basic shinobi knowledge, just a few weeks previously. However, due to council involvement, he couldn't have Naruto actually live with him, as it was a 'temporary living arangement'. However, Hiruzen was able have Naruto stay over at the compound during special occasions, like the Kyuubi Festival, where people got drunk and tried to kill 'the Demon'. The only reason Naruto had even been grabbed by the mobs the previous week was because his 'son', Asuma, had literally kicked him out the door earlier in the day. And now, there was the very real possibility that the boy would just shut down, and refuse to take any more abuse, or even train and grow, and destroy the village to take revenge on all of the villagers that had taken great pleasure in hurting him. *sigh* 'I'm getting to old for this shit' thought the exasperated old man.

He looked at both of the women. Mikoto, formerly of the Uchiha, and possessor of the Sharingan Kekkai-Genkai. Irihi, formerly of the Hyuuga, and possessor of the Byakugan. Both had been very able kunoichi, and were also from families that had overcome their hatred of each other, with their contempt for the rest of the village. They had both brutalized Naruto extensively, even going so far as to turn it into some sort of inter-clan rivalry, working together only to set the stage to do more damage. And now they would be at the mercy of their victim, bound to follow his commands, whatever they be. He could already tell that this was going to be a major shit-storm, and when it hit, big things were going to happen.

"Mikoto, Irihi, it is time for you to undergo the first part of your punishment. Both of you will give up one eye to the doctor here," at this, Dr. Nanasawa walks in, "to be implanted in Naruto. After you have that taken care of you will sit here, and write one letter, saying your goodbyes to anyone you might miss, but you are not to give any explanation for your disappearance." Seeing their surprised looks, he chuckled darkly, "Oh, did I forget to tell you? In order to prevent any retaliation or disruption of the peace, we will be faking your deaths, and since the Kumo Delegation is here this week, we'll pin it on them trying to steal Konoha's two famous doujutsu." A cough to his side interrupted him. "Well, it seems that the good doctor Nanasawa is ready to perform the procedure now. Please, follow him and his instructions." And with that, the two noble women walked behind the doctor into the O.R. Outside the room, you could just here them. Dr. Nanasawa was saying something along the lines of 'this will hurt just a bit, so I'll do it on three. One, tw-'after that, the scream of pain nearly deafened the old Hokage. 'She sure has pair lungs on her' he thought quietly, snickering perversely.

"….t….aruto...NARUTO!" was what Naruto heard as he bolted upright, the sound painfully loud. "Ah, Naruto, you're awake!" said Dr. Nanasawa excitedly. "So…" Naruto paused nervously, "how did the operation go?" Before this, Naruto had only been told that there might be a way to return his eyesight, and that they were basing it on only a shaky theory. "Well, there were some complications…" the doctor said seriously. And the doctor, after seeing Naruto's face for minute, burst out laughing so hard tears were coming out. After exhausting himself rolling on the ground laughing, the good doctor stood up and told Naruto, "but seriously, there are some special, umm, 'issues', concerning your eyes." Seeing Naruto's utterly confused look, he decided to explain, "Well, the thing is, when your eyes were, *ahem* removed, something happened to the chakra points behind them. Whether it occurred because of the way they were removed, or if it was something completely different, we don't know. Because of what happened, the chakra points were drawing a lot of excess chakra through the points, and there would be chakra leaking out of the points, pooling in the socket as if the chakra could replace the eye. However, also because of this anomaly, when we tried to transplant an eye earlier in the week, the chakra prevented the optic nerves from grafting, because they quickly became overloaded with chakra. We tried several methods to get around this problem, we even got a Hyuuga to try and close the chakra points behind your eyes. Unfortunately, the points opened almost as soon as the Hyuuga's fingers left the point. In the end, we had nothing but a theory. The theory was that a chakra conditioned eye could last long enough for the nerves to graft and, hopefully, no longer be seen as a foreign object to be attacked and removed. The problem was, the only eyes that handle large amounts of chakra on a regular basis are an eye with a doujutsu."

At this, the boy looked thoughtful. "So… which one did I get? The Byakugan, or the Sharingan?" he asked the doctor. The doctor just looked at him and laughed a little before answering, "The funny thing is, you got one of each. The best part is, apparently, that the abnormal chakra flow has apparently saturated the eyes, and fundamentally changed the D.N.A. to be compatible with your own. So instead of having both of them active all the time, you will be able to wield them as someone born with them would." "COOL!" Naruto gushed. He idly wondered if this is what getting a birthday present was like. "Ok, ok, calm down. I want you to try activating the one in your right socket. Good! You did it." The world as Naruto could see it was halted in time, and everything was now heavily tinted in red. He quickly turned it off again seeing as the sharingan sucks up a lot of chakra just to be active. "Alright, now try the other eye." Naruto tried again, this time with the left eye, and the world faded to blue, many, many shades of blue. He looked forward, and saw through a wall, just to see a woman undressing for a mammogram. He looked right, and saw through several walls, all the way to Ichiraku Ramen, where he saw Ayame and Teuchi cook noodles, and he smiled at the sight. He looked to the left to look through the wall there, and froze. He quickly cut all the chakra he was sending to his eyes, and began to quake in fear. In a burst of speed disproportionate to his age, he leapt off the bed with a blanket, ran to the corner of the room farthest from the door, and cowered under the blanket.

'Shit!' and 'Fuck!' were the type of thoughts running through the mind of Dr. Nanasawa, guessing quite accurately just what, or rather who, he had seen to cause him to cower like that. "Naruto, I need to tell you something" the doctor said, quietly, nervously. He had seen the look in his eyes when he spoke, and his eyes were that of a cornered animal, dangerous and out of control. "The two women you saw outside the room, they are here because of their punishment." Seeing the questioning look he was given, he went into another explanation, "they were the ones to set-up that attack during the Kyuubi festival, and the Hokage has set a very harsh punishment for them. Not only did they have to give up an eye to you, which is where we got your new eyes by the way, they have to give up their homes, family, and lives to come and serve you. Once you have completely recovered from the operation, and gotten used to your new eyes, you will be able to go and take your place in your father's home, which no one else can find. At that point, they will both become your property to do with as you will, and they will follow any order you give them to the best of their abilities. You will literally own their lives." This shocked Naruto so badly that he dropped the blanket he had been hiding under. "S-so, y-you're saying that the two people who hurt me, who pretended to like me, who've made me have nightmares for the last year, are now my slaves?" he questioned, stuttering like he had a speech impediment. "To do anything you want to do with them, even having them killed is within the bounds of the rules set for them." And with a nod of assent from one of the few people he trusted, Dr. Nanasawa, he promptly passed out. "Let's just see what he thinks about it in a few years from now, huh" said Dr. Nanasawa, wringing his hands and giggling perversely.


	3. Chapter 3

A.N. – The Complete chapter 3

-Review answers!

IGNORANCExisxBLISS-Tails09

-Your suggestions are creative and probably quite workable, I feel as if there are a couple plot holes id be stumbling over. 1_ how exactly would the two doujutsu fuse? And how would that fix their respective weaknesses? 2_Isnt it giving too much power without any drawbacks? I mean, I'm as much a fan of god-fics as anyone, if they're done well, but I think x-ray vision and a photographic memory are pretty fantastic as it is, in addition to what I may or may not decide to give him later.

To be honest though, you comment is, as it stands, a fairly good setup imo for a story. If you feel you need permission from me to write it, due to it being vaguely inspired by my story, go ahead. Write it. I'll enjoy reading it.

Shihouin Shunshin

- I thank you for your insights to some of the things I intentionally put in this fic. In most stories I have read, the Hokage is either a spineless wimp, afraid of wiping his own ass, or almost an oppressive dictator, giving commands on a whim, with no consideration for the consequences. In this case, yes, it is something of a dictatorship, since he is in fact the head of the military. He can give orders to the shinobi, and expect them to be carried out, regardless of what they are. However, he is also a political leader. he has to keep face amongst the civilian population, or hell get deposed, either with a violent uprising, or via an end-run by the council going straight to the daimyo.

As for the target of his decreed punishment, he picked the ones that had organized the event. He could have done a full purge, but such things look really bad, especially when it is so many highly influential people. Besides, most of the participants of the event were sheep, doing it because it was there, and their friends were doing it. You don't kill a sheep just for being a sheep, even if it does kick over a lantern and light the town on fire (or cows); you kill the wolves that herded it into the barn in a panic.

I hope I adequately addressed your comments, and I would like to say thank you. I find well thought out reviews such as yours very enjoyable.

And Now, back to the story!

_(Several weeks later)_

The forest around the village was quiet. All the excitement from previous weeks had fallen off, and most were in a fairly demure state. It had started off with the rather surprising, and unpleasant, arrival of a diplomat from Iwa, alongside the Kumo delegation.

*Flashback*

_Kotetsu and Izumo, two chunin for whom gate duty was a chronic and constant duty, were at an unusual, for them, level of alertness. Izumo even looked as if he had gotten a new set of clothes, evidenced by the still-present folds in the clothes. The reason for such a level of primping was obvious to all active-duty ninja, as today was the day when the Kumogakure peace delegation was to arrive. As such, everyone was surprised when a ninja from Iwa, one of their most hated enemies, was seen slowly approaching the front gates with his hands raised in the universally recognized "I've got nothing in my hands" gesture. As such, all present ninja that were not there in some official capacity, were panicking at the thought of what this could represent._

"_Could they be declaring war?" _

"_Would they try to enforce an embargo?" _

_Such thoughts were prevalent amongst those in panic. Eventually, someone got the bright idea to actually go get the Hokage to deal with the situation._

_By the time the Iwa ninja had reached the gate, the Hokage had also arrived, and stood center stage to confront this enigma. As the foreign ninja reached the monolithic gates, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, proved once more why he was once known as the "God of Shinobi."_

"_Halt!" the wizened warrior declared, in a voice that not only demanded, but almost forced, absolute compliance. The shock present in the foreign ninja's face made it obvious that he was stunned that a single word had caused his body to stop moving forward, with absolutely no input on his part. "What is your purpose in Konoha, and why exactly should we let you proceed with your purpose?" again came the voice that took compliance as its due._

_Now, quite a bit more nervous than he had been, the lone ninja finally spoke, "I am here on the behalf of Iwagakure. My purpose here is to negotiate a peace treaty amongst the villages of Iwa, Konoha, and Kumo." This tidbit of information at first shocked the gathered Konoha ninja, for while they had not exactly been keeping their meeting with Kumo a secret, they hadn't been going around spouting off about it either._

_After a moment of thought, the aging leader spoke once more, "Fine, your presence will be tolerated for the duration of the peace talks. However, if, for any reason, you are found violating the hospitality and trust being offered to you, you will not be returning to your village." In a gesture of finality, he gestured to his son, Asuma, to escort the new "diplomat" to the hotel that the village traditionally hosted visiting diplomats in. as the gathered crowd dispersed, some disappointed that the confrontation had not escalated, all he could think is, "One day, is one day of boring, routine _**nothingness **_too much to ask for?" unaware of the celestial heads nodding sheepishly, he too returned to his regularly scheduled paperwork._

*Flashback End*

From there, things had only gotten worse. An unmistakable aura of unease had permeated the atmosphere of the village, and it was quickly noticed by the Kumo delegation. They had not been pleased either, when they learned of Iwa's move, but were in no real position to contest it. Finding no purpose in delaying their purpose with frivolous pleasantries, they quickly sat down at a table together, in an effort to hash out a workable treaty.

Three days later, in much the same position, Hiruzen had passed the point of being suspicious, and reached the point of _knowing_ that both foreign parties were here for some other reason, with the line about a peace treaty being merely a convenient ruse. He just couldn't figure out what their angles were. They were obviously delaying for something, which had been made obvious when the youngest member of the Kumo delegation had suggested, on the third day, an option the elderly ninja had, on the first day of negotiations, made abundantly clear was absolutely _not_ an option. It wasn't an invasion, all of the village's available scouts and trackers had been recalled and set on patrol around the village, and nothing had turned up. They weren't setting anything up, and this was confirmed by the various ninja he used to observe their actions outside of the negotiations. There was the typical and expected site-seeing and tourism that was extended to those of significant standing and a few meals shared with various council members.

That last bit was what gave him worry, even though their conversations were kept fairly light and meaningless, ninja were trained to encrypt valuable information into the drivel that idle speech so often consists of. And even then, if either visiting party had been planning something, he would've expected them to have enacted it by now. After all, you can only negotiate a treaty that was never intended to be real for so long.

As the head of, and now the only member of, the Kumo delegation fled through the forest, heading away from the clan district of the village, he tried to determine exactly what had gone wrong. Everything had been going splendidly, better than they had even dreamed. They had found out, from one of their local sources, that not only was there a mature female main-branch Hyuuga in a much less secure location than the Hyuuga clan home, there was also a member of the Uchiha clan in the same location. They had originally been planning on making off with one of the Hyuuga heirs, as they were more likely to be easily subdued, in addition to being somewhere out of sight, but now they had a chance to score **both** of Konoha's much touted doujutsus, so of course they had altered their plans to fit. Everything had gone off without a hitch too, right up until they had met the Iwa diplomat right outside the room that held their prizes.

*Flashback*

The hallway was dark and dusty, as if it had seen hardly any use for years on end. The Kumo squad had spread themselves along it, all preparing for a fight, should anything _unexpected_ occur. The squad leader had pressed himself to the wall next to the doorway, in order to minimize himself as a potential target should an enemy be waiting behind the door. As he reached his hand out to slowly and silently slide the door open, the door opened suddenly.

The Kumo ninja arranged around the doorway stared in shock at the other foreign ninja, who happened to have both of the intended targets, still asleep, over his shoulders. Said ninja was staring in shock at the squad of Kumo ninja arrayed around him. For a moment, both parties could do nothing but stare in shock at the other. Both were feeling a bit sheepish, as the Iwa ninja had been caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar, and the Kumo squad at the fact that they had not only been beaten to the punch, but by a single person as well.

"Well, this is awkward" a voice drifted down the dark corridor said. As one, all of the gathered phony diplomats turned their heads to the source of the voice, and were all surprised to see what appeared to be a small boy.

"Go back to bed, kid, this is grown up stuff" an enterprising young Kumo representative said, trying to not be too violent, or loud, with his demand. Everyone waited anxiously to see if the gambit from Kumo would save them the hassle of killing the kid, and possibly alerting whatever security was around the area.

"Sure." The quick, simple answer quickly relieved several ninja present, as only the most deranged of whackos actually enjoyed killing kids. "As soon as you return my property, of course." The tension quickly returned. They might have to kill the poor kid after all. Though several wondered what property he was talking about, including the ninja that was currently holding the two women, as the only things that had been taken by anyone were the women that they were in the middle of kidnapping. As the arrayed ninja gradually accepted the fact that the kid was going to need to be killed, some of their thoughts turned toward what was going to happen after this situation was resolved, many of which involved the two currently unconscious women.

All of a sudden, a heavy pressure was felt by those in the hallway, as if gravity had determined that he/she/it wasn't doing its job well enough, and had decided that the solution was to work twice as hard. A few of the more observant ninja of the gathered attempted abductors noticed that they could now see quite clearly in the hallway that they could have sworn was dark as pitch a moment ago. As their observation skills were processing all of this information, no one noticed a few key things. One – the kid, whom many were a little disappointed hadn't just gone back to wherever he came from, seemed to be covered in a malicious red aura. The aura wasn't exuding a malicious intent; however, the color was absolutely homicidal. Two – the two docile, and unconscious, women who had been present slung over the shoulders of the ninja from Iwa like bags of rice, were now nowhere to be seen.

"I was going to just let you go, had you returned my possessions," a frighteningly dark voice rang out, "but even thinking about violating what is mine with your filthy bodies, that crossed a line. It crossed a line into a realm of such suffering, you will be begging for the release of death." Many of the ninja were breaking out into intense sweat, most noticeably the ones with a tendency for perverted thoughts. "only after you have suffered, only after you have spilt your souls to me, and spouted every ounce of information you possess, will you be allowed to drift away to the tender mercies of the Shinigami" that same oppressive voice spoke out. "Now, _Look Into My Eyes!_" And they did. The soul rending screams ensured a troubled sleep for all who heard.

The Next Day

"WHAT!" Naruto found the sight rather amusing, and had it been any other time, he probably would have been rolling on the floor, laughing his young guts out at the sight of the aged Hokage leaping up from where he sat, knocking over his chair, his desk, and the various precariously stacked piles of completed paperwork. "Nooooo!" the old man cried actual tears at the sight of all the scattered paper.

There was only one thing the child could do in response to the ridiculous actions of the elderly village leader. Soon, the flow of the Hokage's tears increased at the sight of the small, blonde child rolling amongst his scattered papers, laughing his poor heart out.

After letting out a small sigh, the Hokage pushed back the building despair at having to redo all that work, wanting to get back to the issue at hand. "Naruto," he said, trying to get the attention of the maniacally laughing blonde. Fortunately for him, Naruto, as a child, had child sized lungs, meaning he couldn't keep the constant laughter up for long. "This is a very serious situation. Are you absolutely positive that the ninja that broke in were the Kumo and Iwa delegations?"

Sitting up from his position atop a particularly large mound of official looking paper, he tipped his head to the side in thought. "Well," he answered, "I don't know what dela, demela, degalation is, but they weren't wearing leaf headbands."

Mentally hitting himself over the head, reminding himself that he was dealing with what could be a very seriously mentally disturbed five-year old child, he asked, "Well, what symbols did you see on their headbands?"

"Uhh… it was dark, and kinda hard to see, but it looked like a lot of them had clouds on them, and there was one with what kind of looked like rocks. Whoever drew them must have been horrible at drawing though, because they only really looked like anything if I sorta squinted at them." There wasn't much the old ninja could do at this revelation but sigh. This was going to cause a lot of problems, and, more importantly, a lot of paperwork, especially since the only reason they would be in there at all is that someone had figured out the link between Naruto and his father, the Yondaime Hokage.

"But jiji," all of a sudden, all of the playfulness that was present in young boy's voice vanished, to be replaced with all of the concern a five-year-old could muster, "they were going to take them!" at this, he realized how stupid he had been. Kumo had long been seeking a way to gain the power of the Byakugan for their own use, and a weakened main-branch Hyuuga, of child-bearing age, would be an almost irresistible target for them. The added possibility of gaining an Uchiha in a similar state at the same time was akin to putting a rabid dog in a rapidly thawing deli meat locker. They were going to make the attempt, and there was nothing short of a pre-emptive strike that would've stopped them.

'And I just had to pull the standard ANBU guard from their patrols around the Namikaze estate. Of course, I had good reason too, but still, there had to have been something I could have done' Hiruzen thought. He did, in fact have good reason to pull alter the standard ANBU patrol routes around that particular estate. Shortly after Naruto was released from the hospital, his body fully healed and adapting to his new eyes, there was an attack by several ANBU members. Fortunately, the attacked was foiled by the timely intervention of the Hokage, who had just exited the hospital, and bore witness to the assassination attempt. Though Naruto was not injured, his new vassals, Mikoto and Irihi suffered a few minor injuries, consisting of a few scrapes and minor burns. Though, Naruto's reaction was surprising to say the least.

*Flashback – again*

_Mikoto and Irihi sat upon the ground in shock. Not five steps out the door, and Naruto had already been attacked. The shock of the sudden attack, combined with the remaining shock of being essentially enslaved to the being they had made their goal in life to make suffer, caused them to become nonresponsive to the battle raging around them. Though the Hokage had been following close behind them, and the fight lasting, at most, a minute, several techniques and explosions had been used._

_As a result of their unresponsiveness, they had suffered a few minor cuts and scrapes from shrapnel, and what amounted to sunburns from a few badly aimed fire jutsu. As soon as the battle ended, they collapsed where they stood, their minds unable to take the strain. However, someone had a different plan for them. They were quickly jerked up into a sitting position, and quickly responded with a glare at whoever dared take such liberties with them. Their glares quickly melted back into looks of fear and despair, as they realized who they had just glared at. _

"_What the hell was that!" an enraged Naruto bellowed, somehow producing a disturbingly deep voice from such a small body. "You were both renowned ninja, recognized for skill above and beyond just what you were capable of with your eyes, yet a simple ambush leaves you shocked beyond action? Bullshit, I know you're both better than that, I've experienced your ninja skills myself, and know you should've at least been able to avoid harm to your selves."_

_In a soft, wavering voice, Irihi spoke, "B-but, it's just a few scratches…"_

"_THAT'S NOT THE POINT" their master yelled. "You. Are. Mine. You will be treated as if you were any one of my few meager possessions, with utmost care. And as such, damage of any sort is UNACCEPTABLE." The two women were almost in tears (irony is a bitch, isn't she) from the dressing down they were receiving, after all, who in their right mind would yell at a women who could, and gleefully would, beat them into submission. "You weren't thinking. For example, your clothes." As they looked down at themselves, they saw that the clothes they were wearing were ruined by the heat and shrapnel from the explosions, with burn marks and holes making up more than half of the entirety of their garments. Not really understanding why he was so upset with them, after all, they were just, while in this case fairly fancy and expensive, relatively cheap cloth garments that could be easily replaced when they got home._

_Seeing the confused faces, and realizing they didn't understand, the anger that had been slowly subsiding grew once more. "You stupid… stupid heads!(remember, he's five, he's got basic curse words, but no real scathing personal insults) You are no longer a part of you clans. You no longer have a place among them. You no longer have anything but the clothes on your backs, and whatever else you may be carrying. And now, thanks to your _great_ actions during the fight, you no longer have even your clothes. And since, again thanks to you, I can't buy anything that doesn't belong in a trash bin, I'm going to have to try and repair what you're wearing so you aren't stuck in a room, unable to do anything at all because you'd be arrested for public indecency if you tried." Seeing their faces as they realized just a bit more about how bad their situation was, made him feel a bit better, though he was a tad conflicted on whether or not he should be feeling good about tearing a person down piece-by-piece._

_Even through all of the emotional hits Mikoto had taken in such a short period of time, the famous Uchiha pride reared its ugly head in a what was likely a penultimate, if not final, attempt to strike out and reaffirm itself in her mind. "Do you really think so little of us, of me, that we cannot even mend our own things?" she spoke, clearly indignant at the thought of being seen as useless by anyone, especially the little blonde boy in front of her._

"_Yes." The immediate response, indicating that he was absolutely sure of his response once again shocked both of the recently bound servants. As Mikoto opened her mouth, clearly about to argue with him, he spoke once more. "Yes, I believe that you are both useless to me. You clearly aren't capable of protecting me, and due the positions you previously held, I don't believe you are capable of even the most insignificant of housework. Honestly, if I hadn't known that both of you were powerful and capable kunoichi, I would doubt you capable of doing __**anything**__ without the help of servants." The obvious disdain in Naruto's voice severely irked the two women, who were both very proud of the fact that they weren't like other noble women, and didn't need to be waited on hand and foot._

*Flashback end*

Hiruzen allowed himself a moment to chuckle to himself as he remembered the fallout of that event. As a result of belief that they were capable of completing regular household chores (i.e. cleaning, cooking, minor repairs, etc…) Naruto challenged them to actually do so in the rather large home that he now lived in, which had previously been known as the Namikaze estate, though it was entirely empty, so that no one would be tempted to break in and learn some of the Yondaime's signature moves. All they had to do was adequately clean one room to prove that they had the ability to do so, and he would do any one thing for whoever completed the challenge, no matter what they asked. He also gave it a time limit of one whole day, from sun up, to sun down. After all, given enough time, a person can do just about anything.

He had been present as an impartial judge, something that both women had insisted upon, and not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to find a legitimate reason to laugh at two of the biggest instigators of pointless arguments that had ever found their way into the council chambers, he quickly agreed. He was, however, amazed when he looked in the room Mikoto was assigned to clean about two hours in to the challenge. He never knew so much effort could be put into something, and have come out essentially the same. It was obvious that things had been moved around to make it easier to clean, and from the amount of sweat he could see soaked into her still singed kimono, it was clear that she had been working nonstop since the challenge began. Unfortunately, for Mikoto, it appeared that for all her effort, the dirt and dust that had accumulated over the years had merely been pushed around and not really cleaned. Needless to say, but he thought it anyway; neither of the two former clan matriarchs was successful.

Shaking his head slightly, he tried to get back on topic. After all, the simultaneous betrayal of both Kumo and Iwa, during _peace talks_ of all things, was a major event. The consequences of this disastrous occasion would be large and far-reaching. First, he would have to confirm that they were in fact the ninja that were sent as diplomats. Then, he would have to convene the council to determine what their response to this grave insult would be… and wasn't he doing something right now? He realized that he had drifted into silence for several minutes now, if the slightly confused and worried expressions Naruto was showing were anything to go by.

"Naruto, don't worry, everything will be fine. Now, I've got some things to take care of first, but when I'm done, what do you say to getting some ramen, huh?" the old man said, trying to get the small, blonde boy out of his office. Unsurprisingly, the boy was out of there like a rocket. Chuckling softly, he went back to his paperwork, feeling as if he was forgetting something, something important. He looked down at the paper he had been writing on during his discussion with his favorite blonde, and was shocked. There, written on the paper, in his own handwriting, were notes on the attack, and a description of the event written in a child's handwriting beneath it. He was shocked, because he had absolutely no recollection of the event in question, or of writing anything about it down. He tried thinking back over his conversation with Naruto, and was less than shocked to find that it was **very** similar to a conversation he had had with the child months ago. This, he decided, was very, very bad. He quickly wrote down the entirety of the situation as he knew it and his suspicions as to the cause of his faulty memory, and beckoned one of his most loyal ninja from the shadows of his office.

"Take this to Jiraiya of the Sannin, and make sure he reads it. The faster this task is completed, the better" he commanded the weasel masked figure. As the masked ninja leapt out the window to complete his task, the aging village leader sat back in his chair, pondering whether or not this was the first event that his memories had drifted away on, and how much of the last few years he remembered was real, or merely what someone wanted him to believe was real.

~~~AN~~~

Yes, I said I would have an update by the weekend, but some things have priority over writing stories. Things like, getting a job, and signing up for college classes and making sure my financial aid pulls through. I should, however, have the next chapter up next week, as I've already written part of it, and a fairly detailed outline of where im taking this story over the next few chapters. And just because I can, Next time, on a Fox Hunt, Jiraiya introduces himself, the Hokage's memory is fixed, and the council acts like… well, the greedy bastards they've always been.


	4. Chapter 4

AN:

Guy Smiley: Hi kids! I Hope You're All Enjoying This Sto-BAMPH

dHemlan: We apologize for Smiley, he's been running us ragged to get ready for college life. Fortunately, one of our troubleshooters was able to fix the problem. So, from now on, updates should become much more regular, coming in about once a week. Again, we apologize for all the frustration this may have caused. *starts dragging body offscreen*

Guy Smiley: I'm not dead ye-

dHemlan: Oh, shut up, or i'll turn you into a newt!

* * *

"Speech"

'thought'

**"Big Ass Monster"**

* * *

Chapter 4

_In Iwa:_

"What do you mean, he failed!" a rather short man yelled at the reporting shinobi.

"T-That's what the report we received from our contacts in Hi no Kuni said," the brown clad ninja stuttered out, "apparently, Kumo was after the same target, and they arrived at the same time."

Onoki, the Sandaime Tsuchikage, let his head droop in frustration, after all, there are some things that can't be avoided or planned for. Of course, do to his diminutive stature, doing so caused his head to slam into his desk rather hard, certainly much harder than he intended. He left his head down though, since he'd be dealing with a much larger headache soon enough, since Konoha would soon be down their throats with demands for reparations. At this point, he had a decision to make, either let those flaming tree huggers give some ridiculous demand which they would have no way to fulfill, or make an offer good enough to make them take it as the entirety of the reparations. He picked his head up, and thought, "Well, this is happening whether I like it or not, so what is there that I could offer…"

_In Kumo:_

A was sitting behind the desk of the Raikage. Not more than 24 hours before, his father had been sitting there. He sighed. He, and the majority of the village, including ninja, had recently deposed the Sandaime Raikage, and he had not gone peacefully. 'Then again, I'd prefer dying in battle to a lifetime in prison' the overbuilt Kumo shinobi mused. Seriously, he was built like one of those trucks used in quarries. Ridiculously massive, built to withstand twice the expected load, and has more horsepower than anyone else would need in their entire life. In fact, it was rather odd for the exercise obsessed man to be doing much musing at all, especially something so deep. On the other hand, it's not every day that a son rises up against his father, and has to kill him to in order to do what is right, not only for him, but all of the people who depended on him. If he had ever had the chance to see the original Star Wars trilogy, he would, no doubt, be able to relate to Luke.

"A-sama! You need to see this!" a relatively short Kumo ninja burst into the office, disrupting the bulkier man to snap out of his odd introspective moment.

"If this is not absolutely vital information you're bringing me-"he began, but was cut off by the short and fairly disheveled ninja.

"It is. I just found the orders for the diplomatic squad that was sent to Konoha" the panicked ninja managed to blurt out between gasps for air, "and it is not good. They were sent to abduct a member of the Hyuuga main branch." A raised his fist, and brought it swiftly down upon the desk before him.

As the desk shattered into splinters and sawdust, all A could do was curse his father. 'Damn you and your obsession with doujutsu' he thought. He sighed again. "…Do we have any idea on their progress?" he finally asked. The messenger looked shocked, and slightly appalled, at the thought of him wanting the mission to succeed. "We need to know, so we can determine what we will do about it. If they haven't made an attempt yet, we can have it called off. If they've somehow pulled it off, well, we've got ourselves a new kekkai genkai for our village. Though, it is absolutely vital to find out whether or not they failed, or were identified as Kumo ninja at some point during the abduction." He continued on in thought, 'if have failed, they will probably still demand some sort of repayment for this act against them. And we still don't know exactly what we even have at this point! Damn you, father, for making me go against you.'

"Umm… If it's that important, then you aren't going to like this" what appeared to be a member of the secretarial staff stood at the door nervously.

"And just why would I not like what you are going to tell me, hmm?" spoke the unofficial Raikage.

"Well, we uhh… just received a report from our observers near Konoha," she began, "and, uhh, it appears that the ninja that were sent to abduct a Hyuuga were caught in the act, and quickly dispatched."

'Oh hell, when it rains, it really pours down' thought the muscular man, as he thought those most dangerous words. 'Well, it could be worse; at least we haven't received any demands from Konoha yet.' As he thought this, the door burst open again, having been closed after the secretary left, revealing yet another messenger. "Let me guess, a message from Konoha?" he asked, hoping against hope that it wasn't. He'd had enough to deal with today without figuring out what to give them to appease them. Normally they'd use the fact that they held a much larger and better developed military than the other countries, but with the recent revolution, everything was still scattered and unorganized.

"No…" the new messenger said nervously, unaware of the political debacle their previous leader had dragged them into. "Several clan heads and merchants have grouped together as a council to help support the restructuring of the village. They are requesting a meeting with you as soon as possible."

A thought this over for a bit, after all, he was a fairly combat oriented ninja. Some of the other, stealthier shinobi would probably have a better idea of how to run a village, or at least which aspects were absolutely vital for the continued growth and prosperity. They would have to, since they would need to know what aspect to hit in order to destabilize a country or village. And, on top of everything else, they could handle all lot of the paper work that had covered the desk that was recently turned into high-quality wooden toothpicks. He sighed once more. "Fine, I will meet with them in one hour" he said to the messenger. As the messenger nodded, and raced away to relay the message, A couldn't help but feel a shiver go down his spine, as if he had made a grave mistake.

_In Konoha:_

Hiruzen Sarutobi, aged leader of the village of Konoha, was tired. He had just come from an extensive meeting with the council on what their response to the grave insults paid to them should be. Of course, no one could agree on anything at all. Some wanted secret Kinjutsus from Kumo and Iwa. Some wanted kekkai genkai bearers to breed. Still others wanted to a portion of their treasury, as well as a percentage of their missions outside of their respective country. He had finally gotten a recess called when he reminded them that it was Naruto who had been offended, and, as he was recently instated as the head of the Namikaze clan, at least unofficially, it had become a clan issue. As such he would discuss with him the ideas presented in the meeting, and they would resume the meeting in two days, in order to further determine the value of Kumo and Iwa's offence, and what other options for compensation could be tabled, as well as getting Naruto's input, since he would be making the final decision.

As the elderly ninja pondered over this… event, he was also trying to determine what the other kage's reactions would be. Onoki, he knew from personal experience, would see the position he was in. Iwa still hadn't made up for the loses they had suffered during the Third Shinobi War, and as such, were in no position to refuse any demand Konoha could make, as certain events at the end of the war had deprived them of their allies. And if he knew this, than Onoki certainly did, so what was he going to do about it, especially since he knew Onoki hated doing anything from the weak position. 'Hmm, perhaps that problem will work itself out' he mused, as he realized that the equally aged Tsuchikage would probably try to pre-empt any demand for compensation with an offer of his own. He smiles a grim smile, one more at home at a funeral than an office. 'Now,' he thought, 'the only issue is Kumo.' The Sandaime Raikage was known for being a militaristic dictator, and could out stubborn a herd of mules. In fact, he would probably be sending a demand of his own, for detaining and 'roughing up' what had been labeled a diplomatic envoy. He let out a long, exhausted sigh. This was going to put him so far behind in his paper work…

_At the Namikaze Estate:_

As Naruto lay on his ridiculously oversized bed, he thought about the events of that night. His conscience was awash in conflict, as recalled the events in question. On one hand, they were obviously ninja attempting to abduct Mikoto and Irihi, and while he still didn't like, didn't have any emotional attachment to them, he still saw them as _his_. And things that belong to him, he keeps, he cares for, he protects, and he repairs when necessary. So it was logical that he not allow those ninja to complete their task, and make off with the two women.

On the other hand, he had destroyed them. Not physically, there was no injury to their bodies, but to their minds, their souls. He had gone in and tortured them, bringing up the deepest, darkest fears, regrets, and memories up from the pits of their souls, before utterly tearing them to shreds, and consuming the remaining scraps of energy. Yes, you read that right. Consumed the remnants of their souls. This was an ability granted to him by the very being that had locked what was known as the most destructive beast in the world into him. The Shinigami.

This ability was still rather new to him, as he had only been told of it a short while ago. It had happened the first night he was allowed to go his new home in his clan compound, along with his new servants. As soon as he hit the sheets of his new bed, all of the shock and stress of the previous days, the fox hunt, getting new eyes, getting the modern equivalent of slaves, was allowed to decompress, sending him into a deep sleep that would last for at least a full twelve hours. It was then that he met the monstrous mass of chakra known as the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

_Return of the jed- Flashback_

_"This is not funny, I finally get a nice place to stay, and a nice bed to sleep in, and I wake up in some sort of cave," the short blonde boy muttered as he picked himself up, and, seeing no point in staying where he was, got to walking. As he walked, he noticed that there were many, many different tunnels off to the side of the one he was walking in. he idly noted that this meant it more resembled a tunnel system than a cave. Another thing he noticed was that it was getting brighter. He was hoping that this meant he was almost at the exit; he really couldn't stand wading through what was to him, knee-high water. He became a little depressed when he realized that it was just a room, dimly lit at that. He still went forward into the room, since it was the most interesting thing he had found since he 'woke up'. He kept walking to the far wall, since it looked different, as if it were some sort of cage. Though, what it could have been made to contain, he had no idea. As he got closer, he heard a low, rumbling sound, a sound that was felt more than it was heard. Out of the inky darkness, a huge red shape hurtled toward the cage wall. Naruto, not expecting something in his wildest dreams, fell back onto the water covered floor in shock and fear. He was also not expecting the sudden fireworks that erupted on the other side of the cage bars. A cacophony of light, sound, and fire, launched the mysterious red entity back into the impenetrable blackness of the cage. Seeing this, all he could think was, 'Holy shit! That was Awesome!' (Again, he's still a kid. Granted, he's a very mature kid for his age, but a kid nonetheless) and 'I need to learn how to do that!' However, a monstrous roar ripped through the silence. After the roar ended, Naruto could a distinct thumping pattern that was slowly growing louder, as if it were getting closer. Then it stopped, for no reason he could discern, then again, he had closed his eyes to focus on the sound._

_**"Boy," **__a massive voice boomed out,__** "Open your eyes and look at me." **__Naruto opened his eyes, not sure what to expect. Certainly, a massive demonic animal of some form was not on his top ten most likely things to meet in a cave. All he could do at that point was stare at it in shock and fear.__** "You are very, very lucky, boy" **__the voice boomed again, putting noticeable disdain on the word 'boy'.__** "If it were not for the Shinigami imbuing you with the power to manipulate souls, I would have consumed you and secured my freedom mere minutes after I had been sealed in you." **__Of course none of this was helping the young blonde to get over the shock of meeting a demon._

_"W-What do you mean, sealed in me?" Naruto finally managed to say, getting over a portion of his fear and his shock._

_**"exactly what I said, boy, I was sealed inside you, and the seal was backed by the Shinigami, so even I, the Kyuubi no Kitsune, have no hope of breaking it anytime soon" **__the voice again rang out, sneering at the word boy._

_"Y-You're the Kyuubi" Naruto managed to stutter out in shock. To be fair, he had been getting hit with shock after shock, and while the old man had told him about the fox being sealed in him, he hadn't really believed him._

_**"Yes, I'm the Kyuubi, and if you're just going to repeat everything I say, were not going to get very far, boy" **__the Kyuubi spoke, clearly impatient.__** "We have things to discuss," **__it said,__** "Like your ability to manipulate souls, so sit down and shut up." **__Immediately, he sat down.__** "Now, your ability to manipulate sou-"**_

_"If you were sealed inside me, than why are you in this cave?" the naïve jinchuuriki asked, honest confusion plastered across his face._

_ The massive chakra construct answered,__** "This isn't a cave, its a representation of your mind. Now, your abilities stem from th-"**_

_"So if this is my mind, what were all those tunnels back there for?" the child asked, a thirst for knowledge evident on his face._

_ The great beast, rapidly tiring of this game, answered the small blonde boy, __**"They lead to other parts of your mind, to things like memories. Now, back to what I was saying, your ability to manipulate souls-"**_

_"Are you a girl?" Naruto asked, working as hard as his immature body could to not start laughing._

_**"NO! I'm a giant manifestation of malignant chakra. I don't have a gender, and neither do any of the other bijuu!" **__the monstrous fox screamed at the vastly overwhelmed boy. __**"Now, about the ability that the Shinigami gav-"**_

_"Do you want to be?" the infamous prankster asked, no longer capable of holding back the Cheshire grin of a hungry predator._

_**"What? NO, I am the epitome of form, the peak of life. I am the ultimate form of **__life!" the strongest of the bijuu screamed. That is, until it noticed that the boy was now laughing maniacally, and likely to drown in the layer of water on the floor. "OY! Look at me when I'm speaking to you, you smug little bastard!" it yelled._

_ "!" as his laughter finally petered out, he stood up again and spoke, "ok, I'll look at you, but you might want to take a look yourself." And so she did. Yes, she. While Naruto might not be as smart as, let's say, a Nara, he was awfully good at piecing together relevant information. Such as the fact that he could manipulate souls, and that the Kyuubi, and all the other bijuu, were nothing but souls wrapped in massive amounts of chakra. And while an older, more worldly person might've changed the almighty Nine-Tailed fox into a women for less than savory reasons, Naruto's mind was still trying to wrap around the idea that there was actually a giant monster of destruction stuck inside some ink on his stomach. And since this is not something anyone is prepared to deal with, it was looking for a way to deal with it, make it manageable, and make it controllable. Then it struck metaphorical gold, which in Naruto's mind, was an actual gold mine. He already had two servants, who were slaves in all but name. All he had to do now was bind this massive beast in the same way; hence it's rather unexpected into a woman._

_ "AHHHHHHHH!" the former bijuu screamed in shock. "Turn me back Now, I will not exist in this mediocre body, so give me back my magnificent form of destruction" her yelling continued._

_ "Well, I could give you tails. That'd be somewhat like you old form" Naruto had lost all pretense of fear, and was enjoying playing with what was once the most powerfully entity on the planet before you started talking about gods. "And some nice ears to go with your tails, how does that sound, hmm?" he asked, his wide smile glinting in the dim light. For a solid minute, all the newly genderized chakra beast could do was gape in astonishment and disbelief. The following ten minutes, however, would've had sailors lining up to learn from her._

"_Wow, I didn't know most of that was even possible" the mischievous, yet very naïve boy remarked. "Besides, its too late to argue" the young container continued. And indeed it was too late for argument, as the changes had already taken place. Glaring at the small child from behind the bars of the cage was an absolutely stunning woman. Standing about 6'2", she had long, red hair, streaked with orange, stopping about six inches from the floor. Her face was pale and narrow, giving an aristocratic aura, which contrasted heavily with the Kyuubi's eyes, which possessed a powerful and feral nature. She was thin and willowy, with one noticeable exception. She had massive breasts. Big, firm ones that possessed not an inch of sag, and stuck out straight from the chest. It was as if someone had taken soft, fleshy bowling balls, and strapped them to her chest. Also of note were the set of red fox ears had appeared on her head, and the nine, fluffy tails protruding from a point just above her ass._

_ "Listen foxy-chan," he said, putting heavy emphasis on the feminine suffix, "I'm tired of people trying to hurt me, and hurt the few people I call friends. I'm also tired of those who tried to do so getting to live a life of relative peace and happiness, while I'm forced to suffer. You," the suddenly very serious Naruto pointed at the Kyuubi, "are one of the main causes for my suffering. You will be stuck in that form that you clearly despise, and your power will be removed from your control. You will then finish telling me about whatever power the Shinigami gave me, and then you will be left here, alone and in the dark, to live through my memories of pain and misery over and over."_

_Flashback end_

After he got his explanation for his newfound power, he left the newly feminized bijuu to her torture, and slipped into blissful unconsciousness. Later on, he had used his power over souls to literally consume the fox's power, leaving her just enough power to sustain her soul. There were a few unseen side-effects to doing this though. Firstly, Naruto's already massive chakra reserves had increased to an absolutely insane level, along with the rate at which his chakra was replenished. For intents and purposes, the boy now possessed more chakra than the rest of the village combined, and due to the ridiculous rate at which his chakra pool filled itself, he likely couldn't run out of chakra if he tried. Secondly, his features became a bit more feral, as well as his body filling out a bit. He now stood just shy of four feet tall and no longer looked he was just skin pulled tight over a skeleton. His spiky blonde hair was a bit longer, reaching down to his shoulders, and was streaked with red, and his eyes, when not activated, now possessed a vertical slit pupil. Finally, it seemed that he had gained the capability to exude an aura of death and despair, far beyond what any other ninja could do with KI (killing intent).

It hadn't really helped that, after explaining what had happened to the old man, the Hokage had almost leapt over his desk in his rush to ensure that the seal wasn't broken, or malfunctioning in some way that would allow the fox to fool him. Finding nothing out of place, he had quickly apologized to Naruto for his abruptness, and that it wasn't that he didn't trust him; it was that he didn't trust the fox. With a yawn, he decided deep, philosophical questions regarding his morality could wait until tomorrow. And with that last thought, he rolled over and fell into a deep sleep.

_Hokage's office:_

The aged Sarutobi sat in his office, filling out what was, he desperately hoped, the last bit of paperwork for the day. "And…. Done!" he said with childish glee. Overall, he was dealing with his paperwork much better now that there weren't daily execution demands for the 'demon'. And while he didn't like that Naruto had asked to not have his heritage become common knowledge, he understood his reasoning. He had no doubt in his mind that if Naruto's relation to the Yondaime Hokage was revealed, the people of Konoha would be fighting to wait on him hand-and-foot, completely forgetting and/or ignoring the years of suffering they inflicted upon him.

As he set that last paper down on the stack of other finished papers, a large blur came hurtling through the window. And with the blur came a large gust of wind, which happened to catch the stack of finished paperwork, and carried it quickly back out the window. In a low, dangerous tone, the Hokage spoke, "Jiraiya, you had better have an incredibly important reason to be here."

Jiraiya, the perverted fool that he is, knows that he needed to be careful. His sensei always was a bit touchy when someone interrupted, or ruined, his paperwork. Not because he enjoyed, or thought much of it, but because it meant he'd have to do it over again. "Hokage-sama, do you remember sending a message to me asking me to return to the village?" he asked, his voice flat, and his face not showing an ounce of sarcasm or mischief.

Put off slightly by this rare display of maturity from his student, he replied, "No, I haven't sent you any messages since the release of your latest book. Why do you ask?" Noticing the grave look on his normally light hearted student, he began to get a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Jiraiya reached into his vest and brought out a small scroll.

"This is the message you sent not more than a week ago" the tone in which this was said could have frozen a buffalo. Hiruzen quickly took it, unrolled, and checked for the security seals that every important document sent or signed by him had, before reading the contents of the message. As he read the contents of the scroll, the feeling in his gut became worse and worse.

Finishing the message, he looked to Jiraiya and said, in a tired and lifeless voice, "We have a very serious problem."

Nodding his head, Jiraiya agreed, saying, "That we do, but first, let's find that memory seal and get rid of it. That is our top priority right now, especially since we can't make plans if you can't remember any of them."

"Right," the elderly kage agreed, "Then we go after Danzo."

* * *

Post AN:

Yes, i know i said Jiraiya would be introduced this chapter, and i know you all wanted his wild self-introduction, but i couldnt figure out a way to fit in this chapter, but...

Next Week, on A Fox Hunt!

The Gallant Jiraiya introduces himself,

Naruto takes another hit from the council, even if doesn't know it

And... There's a chicken in the council chambers?

p.s. Please review this story. It depresses my writing ability to see that this story has a third the reviews that my other story has, yet is four times as long


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